1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a measuring device, and more particularly, to a melatonin suppression extent measuring device.
2. Description of Related Art
Melatonin is secreted by a gland of Pineal body in human brain, and it has the following influences on physiological functions of human: (1) promoting sleep; (2) affecting emotion; (3) sexual maturity and reproduction; and (4) affecting the immune functions.
Researches have been found that the production and the secretion of melatonin are mainly influenced by the following three factors: (A) light: light is transmitted to hypothalamus through retinal nerves, and then transmitted to pineal body through the sympathetic nerves, so as to inhibit the secretion of melatonin, therefore the secretion of melatonin can be inhibited in higher level under the darker environment; (B) circadian rhythm: hypothalamus, like a biological clock, can affect the secretion of melatonin, so that the concentration of melatonin secreted by pineal body has a significant variation according to circadian rhythm, and the concentration of melatonin in blood in the night is 6 times higher than that in the day according to researches; and (C) electromagnetic wave: an electromagnetic wave can not only inhibit the ability of pineal body for synthesizing melatonin, but also inhibit the activity of the synthesis of melatonin.
Light is indispensable in daily life. The light perceivable by human eyes is called visible light, wherein the major natural light is sunlight, and the artificial light has various kinds, such as candlelight, incandescent lamps, fluorescent lamps, LED lamp, OLED lamps, etc. Generally speaking, the wavelength range of the visible light is about 450 nm to 750 nm; the color components of the visible light include red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, etc.
According to literatures, different color lights would cause different sensitivity to melatonin of human. Please refer to FIG. 1, which shows a diagram of curves representing relativity between light wavelengths and light sensitivity of melatonin. In FIG. 1, curve A represents a photopic luminosity function for the different color lights, and data group shows the light sensitivity caused by the different color lights to melatonin of human. Apparently, in FIG. 1, melatonin has a higher light sensitivity under the color lights having short wavelengths; on the contrary, melatonin has a lower light sensitivity under the color lights having long wavelengths. So that, naturally, for human beings, who are able to avoid melatonin from being suppressed by way of preventing the bodies thereof to be exposed under the light with short wavelength.
Although the data group in the FIG. 1 shows and proves that melatonin has a higher light sensitivity under the color lights having short wavelengths, literatures have not been found and recorded the following facts: As shown in FIG. 1, curve B represents melatonin suppression extent per lumen for quanta from different wavelengths. The curve B shows, of course, the quanta from short wavelength light caused higher suppression extent on melatonin under unit lumen; However, to man's surprise, the melatonin suppression extent caused by quanta from long wavelength (around 780 nm) is nearly equal to the melatonin suppression extent caused by quanta from short wavelength (around 480 nm).
Therefore, based on the above-mentioned results, it is aware of that, to determine influence on melatonin of human caused by the color light by way of the length of the wavelength is inadequate, the amount of quanta would also make influence on melatonin of human.
Accordingly, the inventor of the present application has made great efforts to make inventive research thereon and eventually provided a melatonin suppression extent measuring device, so as to expect that the melatonin suppression extent measuring device could be used for measuring the melatonin suppression extent caused by the color lights with different wavelengths and quanta, and displaying melatonin suppression extent in value.